Safety-trolley.



Patented luly I0, 1900.

' J. W. RICHMOND.

SAFETY TBOLLEY.

(Application filed Mar. 28, 19Q0.)

(No Model.)

d I (5 c3 1; A 2.. O 0 B o o J,

0 7 no a/ 0 v I. F o F E25 A T7) UNITED STATES PATENT OFF CE.

JOHN W. RICHMOND, OF FISHKILL-ON-TI-IE-HUDSON, NEW YORK.

SAFETY-TROLLEY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 653,402, dated July 10, 1900.

Application filed March 28, 1900. Serial No. 10,443. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may dancer-n:

Be it known that 1, JOHN W. RICHMOND, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fishkill-on-the-Hudson,in the county of Dutchess and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety- Trolleys; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has relation to trolley devices employed in connection with electrically-propelled cars or vehicles for the purpose of establishing and maintaining contact with an overhead wire or conductor.

The object of my invention is to provide or produce a simple, cheap, and effective form of trolley device which shall be capable of running upon the wire or conductor without danger of accidentally leaving the same, without damage to any supports or other fixtures connected with the conductor, which will run upon switches or crossing plates without interrupting the continuity of the current, and which may be easily disconnected from the Wire and as easily applied thereon at any time desired. To accomplish all of this and to secure other and further advantages in the matters of construction, operation, and use, my improvements involve certain new and useful arrangements or combinations of parts and peculiarities of construction, as will be herein first fully described and then pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved safety trolley device as it appears when in its normal position, as when running upon the wire or con: ductor. Fig. 2is a central View, partly in section and partly in elevation, corresponding with Fig. 1.- Fig. 3 is a view similarto Fig. 2, but omitting the axle and showing the safety-pulleys tipped or moved so'as to permit the device to be detached from the conductor. Fig. 4 is a side view of one of the safety-pulleys and its mounting, illustrating the springs operating in connection therewith. Fig. 5 is a section through the base of the frame and through a fragment of the trolley-pole head on which the frame is-adj ustably mounted, illustrating one manner of securing a substantial union between these parts.

In all the figures like letters of reference wherever they occur indicate corresponding parts.

A is the main pulley, running upon an axle B and intended to contact with the under side of the wire or conductor, being held in place by spring-power operating through the trolley-pole, as is the usual custom.

G is the base of a frame mounted upon the head of the trolley-pole, this base being slotted, as at a, to receive a coupling-bolt, as b, and serrated upon its under side, so as to form an unyielding union with the trolley'pole head when adjusted and coupled thereon for use. The frame extends upon or at both ends of the pulley A and sustains the safety appliances and means for operating them.

D and D are two similar safety pulleys or wheels loosely mounted upon their axles d and d, and these axles are sustained upon bars, as E and E, pivoted or hinged, as at e and 6, between the opposite uprights of the frames. When in normal working position, these safety-pulleys ride over the wire or conductor but free from it and close enough to each other to prevent the line from passing betweenthem, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. When thus disposed, any ordinary jolting of the car or pole will be insufficient to dislodge the trolley from the wire or to cause the latter to psss out between the safety-pulleys. Either one or the other of the safety-pulleys will ride against the wire before it can entirely leave the surface of the main pulley A, and metallic connection with the pole is therefore insured without danger of interruption. The safetypulleys being mounted near the margins of the hinged bars, suitable yokes, as d and d confine the upper ends of the safety-pulley axles immovably with respect to the hinged bars. These yokes may be made of thin metal and in any form preferred.

The hinged bars E and E, carrying the safety-pulleys, are arranged to be simultaneously moved or swung upon their hinges by pulling down upon the trolley-line. For this adapted to move through the slots provided I for them with little friction or danger of damage; but they might be made of any suitable material. The hinged bars E and E are each supplied with connecting-rods, as f f f f, leading down to and jointed with angular plates, as g g g g, hinged upon the opposite portions of the frame, and these plates are connected by cross-rods, as h 7t. The forked portions F F are coupled, respectively, with rods h and h. The bars E and E are maintained in normal position by suitable springs, as 2' i and t" i, (see Figs. 3 and 4,) of ample strength for the purposes intended, but not of combined strength sufficient to overbalance the power of the spring by which the trolleypole is held in place. Under this construction and arrangement it is plain that when the trolley-line is pulled down the safety-pulleys will be opened or swungback, so that the trolley may be removed from or applied to the conductor, as are the trolleys of ordinary construction. As soon as the trolley-line is released the safety-pulleys automatically approach each other under the influence of the springs e and t.

In the event that the safety-pulleys be struck by any object their holdin gsprings Wi ll permit them to separate and pass without damage to the device, and in passing crossings or switches they are automatically opened or spread, if struck, and immediately close in proper position over the wire.

Outside the frame on each side are wheels G G. These are mounted on the axle B and cover and protect the frames on the outside,

flange extending a little above or beyond the safety-pulleys, the flanges being separated by about the same distance as are the axes of the safety-pulleys. IVhenever a switchplate or other similar change in the formation of the conductor is reached, the flanged wheels G G ride against this plate, serving then to convey the current from the plate to the pole without interruption. The two flanged wheels may be maintained upon the axle B by any suitable means. I prefer, however, to employ the braces II II, which are bolted to the ends of the axle and also to the head of the trolley-pole. These not only assistin holding the trolley rigidly in place with respect to the pole, but they keep the flanged wheels in place and afford additional metallic connections between the trolley device I and the pole to conduct the current in the manner desired.

frame or they may be in the form of separate plates secured upon the frame. They permit the free movements of the safety-pulleys and practically close the inner faces of the flanged Wheels, so as to prevent accumulations of snow or ice and dust within said Wheels, which otherwise might interfere with the proper workings of the rods and plates by which the safety-pulleys are moved.

K represents a fragment of the trolley-pole, which may be of any of the usual constructions, and L is the trolley-pole head secured in place upon the pole by a suitable bolt, as

'70, which permits a slight movement of the head upon the pole in order that the trolley device may accommodate itself easily to the wire as the vehicle moves upon its track. That the head may not swing too far upon its pivot it is supplied with any suitable form of stop or stops to limit its movements. For instance, the stops Z Z on each side of head L will bear against the pole K whenever the head has moved far enough in either direction, and thus confine the movements of the head within certain limits in the manner desired.

The improved trolley device, constructed and arranged substantially as above explained, will be found to admirably answer all the purposes or objects of the invention herein alluded to.

Having now fully'described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is.-

1. In a trolley device of the character herein set forth, the combination with the main pulley and the flanged wheels of the two safetypulleys axled upon the hinged bars, the latter being connected with branches of the trolley-line and being supported by a frame extending up on each side of the main pulley and within the flanged wheels, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a trolley device of the character herein set forth, the combination with the main pulley and its axle, of the frame, the safetypulleys axled upon the hinged bars, couplingrods, hinged plates, springs bearing against the bars, and branches of the trolley-line connected with the hinged plates, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. In a trolley device of the character heroin set forth, the combination with the main and safety pulleys and frame sustaining the latter, of the flanged wheels mounted upon the axle of the main pulley, substantially as shown and for the purposes set forth.

4. In a trolley device of the character herein set forth, the combination with the frame secured upon the trolley-pole head, of the safety-pulleys, means for operating said pulleys, and the exterior flanged wheels, the said frame being supplied with inner face-plates I and I are the inner faces of the frame. I These may be formed integrally with theto protect the operating devices, substantially as shown and for the purposes set forth.

5. In a trolley device, the combination as Intestimony whereof I have affixed my before set forth, of the main pulley and axle, signature in presence of two Witnesses. the two safety-pulleys and means for operating the same, the frame, the flanged wheels, 5 and a trolley-pole head on which the frame Witnesses: is coupled, substantially as shown and for the WM. STEVENSON, purposes set forth. G. F. ALDRIDGE.

JOHN W. RICHMOND. 

